Opera-glass



(No Model.) 7

O. P. GLOO KER.

OPERA GLASS.

No. 468,337. Patented Feb. 9, 1892 VVITNESSES.

CARLFGLOGKEH, BY

ATTOH NEY.

ma Nunms PEYEM co., mqm-umav, WASNINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL F. GLOCKER, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

OPERA-GLASS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 468,337, dated February 9, 1892.

Application filed January 27, 1891. Serial No. 879,304. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL F. GLOCKER, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Opera-Glasses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in operaglasses, which consists in providing means for rapidly adjusting the lenses to proper focal distances and in providing for said glasses a convenient handle, which forms a suitable base for the mechanism whereby said adjustment is effected.

As commonly constructed the opera-glass is an inconvenient article to hold for the purpose of viewing objects, and the adjustment of its lenses is effected quite slowly and frequently in a very unsatisfactory manner; and the object of my invention is to remedy said defects. This object I attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of one form of my invention, showing the operating mechanism, the handle, and one part of the opera-glass in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view of an opera-glass embodying the said form of my invention. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the handle and operating-lever detached from the opera-glass. Fig. at is a longitudinal section of a modified form of my invention, with the handle, operating mechanism, and one part of the opera-glass shown in side elevation; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section at the line X X of an opera-glass in which said modification is embodied.

As represented in the drawings, A designates the outer tubes of an opera-glass, the same being of an old and well-known construction and connected together in the usual manner by a lower bar 1 and an upper bar 2, said tubes being provided with the usual obj cot-glasses. The movable tubes B, connected by a bar 3, are fitted to slide telescopically in the tubes A and are provided with the usual sight-lenses.

In the form of my invention shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the bars 1 and 2 are connected by a tube 4', which is rigidly secured to both of said bars, and the upper part of the tube 4 is provided with a longitudinal slot for a purpose hereinafter explained. An opening is formed in the upper bar 2 to correspond with the bore of the tube at, and into said bore a tube or rod 5 is fitted to slide telescopically. The upper end of the tube 5 is secured to the bar 3, and a toothed rack 6 is secured to the last-named tube, so that the points of the teeth on said rack will protrude through the slot in the tube 4, above referred to.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5 a tube 7 has its opposite ends journaled in the bars 1 and 2, so that said tube can be rotated on said journals. A pinion-gear Sis secured to the tube 7, so as to be concentric to the latter. The bore of the tube 7 is provided with a screw-thread 9, of a quick pitch, and forms a nut which engages with a corresponding thread formed 011a non-rotating screw 10, which has its upper end secured in the bar 3, that connects the tubes B together. By rotating the tube 7 the screw 10 will be intrusively and protrusively moved in said tube, the direction of said movements being dependent on the direction in which the tube 7 is rotated.

O designates the handle for the opera-glass, which is arranged at a right angle to an imaginary line between the centers of the lenses. Said handle has a quadrant-gear 11 pivoted thereto, as at 12, said quadrant-gear being provided with an arm 13, having an eye 1'-l or other provision in which the user of the opera-glass can insert afinger of thehand by which said glass is held for the purpose of imparting motion to said quadrant-gear. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said quadrant gear is pivoted to the side of the handle C, so

as to engage its'teeth with those of the rack 6, and, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the quadrant-gear 11 is pivoted to the upper face of said handle, so that the teeth of said gear will engage with the teeth of the pinion-gear 8.

The handle C may be a permanentattach- 'ment to the opera-glass; but I preferablyinake it detachable therefrom, and to accomplish that purpose, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the tube at is provided with a socket 15, into which the end 16 of said handle is fitted to engage snugly, and, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, pendent socket-s or loops 17 are attached to the bar 2, and the extremity of the handle 0 is bifurcated to form prongs 18, which fit snugly in said loops to retain said handle in required position in respect to the opera-glass. To render the handle more convenient for carrying, I preferably make it with a joint, 5 as at 19, so that it can be folded at that point.

My invention is operated in the following manner: The handle C is held in the hand of the user, said handle being in an erect posi tion to bring the opera-glass in a horizontal [0 position in correspondence to the eyes of the user, and one finger of the hand holding the opera-glass is inserted in the eye 14 of the quadranbgear 11. Then by a slight movement of said finger the quadrant-gear may I 5 be readily moved to effect an instantaneous adjustment of the-lenses of the opera-glass to a focal distance that is suited to the eyes of the user.

I do not broadly claim the combination of a lever pivoted to a handle and provided with a toothed segment and a toothed rack operated by said segment, as I am aware that such a construction, per se, is old and well-known; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with an opera-glass composed of stationary tubes and movable tubes which slide telescopically and whose movable tubes are connected, either directly or indirectly, to toothed gearing, of a handle for said glass, provided with a segment-gear which is pivoted to said handle and fitted to mesh into the gearing of said movable tubes,

3 5 said segment-gear having a lever fitted to be operated by a finger of the hand of the user, as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The combination of the movable tubes of an opera-glass provided with a toothed rack secured to the cross-bar between said tubes, a handle attached to the immovable tubes, and a quadrant-gear pivoted on said handle and fitted to mesh into said rack, said segment-gear having a lever provided with an eye for receiving the finger of the user of the opera-glass, as and for the purpose herein specified.

3. The combination of the immovable tubes of an opera-glass connected by cross-bars, a revoluble tube journaled on said cross-bars and provided with an internal screw-thread,

a pinion-gear secured to said revoluble tube,

a handle attached to a fixed part of the operaglass and having a quadrant-gear pivoted thereto, said quadrant-gear being fitted to mesh into said pinion-gear, movable tubes fitted to slide telescopically in said immovable tubes and connected by a cross-bar, and

a non-revoluble screw secured to the crossbar of the movable tubes and fitted to engage in the screw-thread of the revoluble tube of the immovable tubes of the opera-glass, as and for the purpose herein specified.

4. The combination, with an opera-glass provided with toothed gearing for effecting the adjustment of its lenses to a focal distance, of a handle connected to said operaglass and having a quadrant-gear pivoted thereto,said quadrant-gear being fitted to engage in the toothed gearing of the opera-glass, 7o

, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

CARL F. GLOCKER.

W'itnesses:

\VM. H. Low, S. B. BREWER. 

